Unbreakable
by JenniLovesAshes
Summary: Set after series 1, a killer is on the loose and it's up to Alex and Gene to stop him, but what happens when Alex goes missing? Galex at some point, please read, I'm rubbish at summaries!
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my first Ashes to Ashes story I have uploaded, please read and review =] Thank you to Celeste Martin for reading over this for me...enjoy! =]**

Chapter 1

She screamed, she knew what was coming, she had studied the crime scene reports often enough and it what he had been talking about ever since she woke up here….. 'No…please, please don't' she begged, while trying to fend him off the best she could, still tied to the chair she had woken up on several hours previously. She couldn't believe it had come to this, Alex Drake begging someone to stop, she knew she should be annoyed with herself for not figuring out who it was sooner, or for being able to use all her training to stop this from happening, but all she had nothing left, the psychology hadn't worked, trying to fight back hadn't worked, that had just lead to him showering her in punches leaving her unconscious for a while. No all she could do was beg and hope this would all be over soon…..

_Three weeks previously_

'Drake, you're late again' was the first thing she heard as she entered CID on a cold Monday morning, she had been hoping he was in his office so she could just sneak in and not have the interrogation again 'Good night last night was it Bolly?' Alex sighed and sat down, holding her head in her arms.

'Fancy a cuppa Ma'am? Asked Shaz

'No time for tea Bolly, there's been another murder, same guy as before pathologist reckons, we're off down the crime scene now, so your little girlie chats with Shaz will have to wait. Ray, Chris, in the car'. Alex sighed again and picked up her coat, that she had just flung across the back of her chair, and followed Gene out to the car.

'So what do we know then?' Asked Alex as Gene sped off towards the crime scene,

'Not a lot, call came through a couple of hours ago, plods are down there at the moment, looks like it's the same guy as before'.

Over the past three weeks three young girls aged between sixteen and eighteen had been found dead outside abandoned flats all across Fenchurch, they had all been reported missing after a night out, and found exactly six days after they had gone missing. All had been raped and badly beaten but what had killed them was the stab wound to the heart each girl had received. As far as they could work out none of the girls knew each other, and none of the families could come up with any reasons as to why this had happened to their child.

Alex looked across to Gene as he continued to disobey the speed limit on the way to the crime scene, she knew this case had got to him, she knew how much he vowed to protect children from harm, take for example little Donny after his brother had been killed, or the little Alex Price after the car bomb that had killed her mum and dad, my mum and dad, Alex thought to herself. It had been five months since the car bomb, and since Alex realised she wasn't going to get back to Molly anytime soon, she still got the occasional message from home, but had vowed to keep living her life, here, with Gene, in 1982 till she found a way home. So there had been no more treating these people like constructs, in fact her and Shaz had become quite close over the past few months, especially since her and Chris had got engaged; they spent many happy evenings discussing the wedding in Luigi's over a few bottles of wine. Alex had also found herself getting closer to Gene, more often than not they would end up at 'their ' table, if the footie wasn't on, drinking and just chatting, a few times Gene had been too drunk to drive home, so on these occasions had used the sofa in Alex's flat as a bed for the night.

Alex had also realised her feelings for Gene were changing, when had she started thinking of him as more than just a friend? What is it about him?

'What do we know then?' asked Alex, trying to get thoughts of her feelings of Gene out of her head.

'Not a lot, same as the other's really, white, about eighteen to twenty, signs of assault and found dead in the early hours of this morning by some guy in the block of flats on his way to work, dumped in the hallway, just like the other three girls' replied Gene as they screeched to a halt outside the block of flats.

'Ray, Chris, you get the statement off the bloke who found er' shouted Gene as he stormed past the two police officers standing by the entrance to the flats

'And remember, be sensitive, the guy has just found a dead body!' shouted Alex as she ran to keep up with Gene, she knew they needed to solve this case…and fast.

They walked up to the second floor in silence, both lost in their own thoughts and both knowing what they would find when they reached the body. Gene could already hear Alex's brain ticking away, what did she have to think about before they had even seen the body?


	2. Chapter 2

**Right first off I am SO sorry for the delay, uni took over my life with dissertations, then revision, then exams, so I have literally not had time to finish this chapter off! But FINALLY finished my degree on monday and have got this chapter out =] hopefully the next chapter will be up within a week! Thank you to De Vienna for beta-ing duties!**

**I do not own Ashes, just using the characters for my personal fun =P **

Chapter two:

_**They walked up to the second floor in silence, both lost in their own thoughts and both knowing what they would find when they reached the body. Gene could already hear Alex's brain ticking away, what did she have to think about before they had even seen the body? **_

As they reached the second floor is soon became apparent where the body was, Alex pushed past Gene and moved straight over to the body, beginning to talk straight away.

'Definitely the same as the others Guv, signs of assault, can see the marks on her wrists and ankles where she has been tied to something for a period of time' Walking around the body she started again 'Been hit over the head with something, which is in line with the other attacks, was probably knocked out in order to get her away from the nightclub before anyone realised what was going on.'

Gene knew better to interrupt her in full flow, and this gave him the chance to wonder what was happening between him and Alex. Ever since those two lawyers had been blown up and little Alex Price had gone to live with Evan he had noticed the change in Alex, Yes she was still the same mouthy, disobeying, psychology talking (yes, he knew what it was called, but was more fun to wind her up!) But she seemed more settled, there had been no more talk of leaving, whatever was eating away at her before had gone, he wasn't sure why things had changed, but he was glad.

'Guv?' Gene looked up, Alex was standing there staring at him, shit had he missed something while he was looking at her, rather than what she was saying.

'Sorry, what?'

'I said' Alex spoke while giving Gene a look, she knew exactly what he had been doing while she was doing her job 'we need to get her to the morgue, see if the cause of death was the same as the others and get the missing persons files out, we need to identify this girl, her parents are probably worried sick missing her and especially with the press coverage this case has got….and stop looking at my arse!'

'I wasn't looking at your arse' Gene mumbled, of course he had, who wouldn't with the arse she had 'Nothing to look at anyway Boll's told ya before and I'll tell ya again, I don't wanna see your bony arse' This was a complete lie, there were many times he found his gaze drifting to Alex but who wouldn't be attracted to her….

The drive back to the station was a quiet one, both Gene and Alex thinking, one look at Gene and Alex knew that they needed to double the efforts they were putting into this case, she could see that another victim, another young girl had been taken and that this was affecting him more than Alex thought it would. She thought back to a conversation (or rather argument) they had had a couple of days before her parents died when she had suggested he didn't have kids, it got her mind working overtime, and of course thinking of Molly. Molly who was never far from Alex's mind, this case bringing up the fact that this person needed to be caught and soon, how could she cope with the fact that in a couple of years that could be Molly, if she ever got home to see her daughter grow, how could she cope with having to hear the news that her precious daughter, her little girl had been brutally attacked and killed, for no apparent, straight forward reason!

Alex took a steading deep breathe to stop her emotions getting the better of her, the last thing any of the team needed now was her getting upset, she would have time to think of Molly soon.

Gene looked over as Alex took this deep breathe, to see her with her eyes shut tight, shit, he wasn't good with emotions and all that stuff, and he didn't really want to make a balls up of it, he was just getting used to this different Alex, yes they still argued all the time, but he loved that, to watch her get all worked up!

Alex and Gene banged through the double doors leading to the CID offices, Gene storming straight through to his office, letting the door to his office bang shut, before opening it again and shouting 'Tea, five sugars' in Shaz's direction and slamming the door again.

Alex, followed Gene into the office and finally sat down, chucked her white leather jacket over the chair and picked up a pile of papers that had been dumped on her desk before she got to the office.

Shaz wandered over 'Here you go Ma'am' and handed over a mug of coffee

'Thanks Shaz' replied Alex, before moving the pile of papers to one side, pulling a new piece of paper out and began scribbling down everything she could remember about the body and her ideas.

Alex was engrossed her thoughts she didn't hear Ray and Chris come back or Gene come out of his office, and only realised when he was stood in front of her leaning over to get a good view down her top 'Can I help you Guv?'

'Coroner called, he's done with the body, off down there to see what he has to say'

'Okay, Ray, Chris, Shaz can you go through the missing persons files from the last week, we need to identify this girl'

'Okay Ma'am' replied Shaz and straight away got out the files and began searching through.

'Shaz is wasted as a WPC Gene' Alex replied as they walked out of the office 'Look the only one of them actually working, she does more work than Ray and Chris but yet she is the one still in uniform!'

'Alright, alright, keep your knickers on' Alex sighed 'If it's bothering you that much I'll try and get something sorted…now can we focus on the case please, this murdering bastard needs to be caught today…I'm not telling someone else that their little girl is dead!'


	3. Chapter 3

**SO sorry for the length of time this has taken me, writers block, holidays and just general I can't do this has led to such a long gap! However now that my plan is finally sorted (apart from one final plotline) I think the updates should be quicker than this! All I can say is sorry, and for anyone still reading this hope you enjoy it and please review it =]**

Chapter three

'_**Alright, alright, keep your knickers on' Alex sighed 'If it's bothering you that much I'll try and get something sorted…now can we focus on the case please, this murdering bastard needs to be caught today…I'm not telling someone else that their little girl is dead!' **_

Half an hour later Gene and Alex walked back into the CID offices, the coroner had nothing much to add to what they already knew, the girl had been beaten badly, the marks around her wrists and ankles suggested the fact she had been tied down for a substantial period of time and there were signs of sexual assault. As the other girls she had been stabbed through the heart, however one small difference was that a note had been found tangled in the girl's long curly blonde hair which was screwed into a very tiny ball which when unfolded had written a paragraph of numbers which were grouped together in different combinations of different amounts of numbers.

Opening the doors they saw Shaz looking through the pile of missing person's while Ray smoked a cigarette and Chris was just staring at Shaz 'So any look on finding out her name yet?' Alex asked the room in general.

'Not yet Ma'am' replied Shaz 'There is still a few to go through here, she pointed to a stack resting on the edge of her desk.

'Oi, dim and dimmer' Gene roared which caused Chris to jump out of his seat in shock and knock over a pile of papers in the process 'will you get some bloody work done, Shaz is the only one trying to find this girl!'

'Sorry Guv' replied Chris while trying to look like he hadn't been scared when Gene came in and trying to sort out all the papers while managing to knock more stuff over in the process.

'Get on with it, will ya! How hard can it be? That can't have been that many girls gone missed who look like the girl downstairs who is now lying on a slab and whose parents are probably worried sick!' Gene shouted, before heading into his office and slamming the door.

Alex sighed before heading over to the whiteboard to add the latest victim's details up with the other girls, she knew she had to find the pattern this killer was using if they had any chance of stopping them before another girl was attacked and killed.

Once Alex had added all the details they knew so far about the latest victim she sat back and began to read the bored again, she had done this a number of times a day since the first murder and she didn't think anything new would jump out at her but sometimes it was easier to step back and look at the whole picture.

'Ma'am?' Shaz interrupted Alex's thinking 'I think I might have found her…'

'Let's see Shaz' Alex walked over to Shaz's desk to pick up the file of a Jessica Hartley, twenty years old with the long curly blonde hair as fitted the photo of the latest victim. 'Think you're right Shaz' Alex turned and walked into Gene's office

'Don't bother knocking Bolls, the door is only there for a reason' Gene said while screwing up the piece of paper he was writing on as Alex came storming through the door.

'Guv we think we have found her'

'Well why didn't you say?' Gene jumped up as Alex passed over the file of Jessica 'Hate to say it but I think Shaz is right! Who is missing her?' he asked as he chucked the file onto his desk and reached for his Whisky.

Alex picked up the file and started looking through 'Says here her dad rung up the night after she went missing which would be six days ago…fits in with the other victims Guv'

'Right we had better pay this…' Gene looked through the file 'Mr Hartley a visit Bolls'. You three, he pointed at Ray, Chris and Shaz keep on at forensics I want to know what they have to say the moment I get back! This case needs sorting…..today!

Gene stormed out of CID and off down the corridor, Alex started to follow and stopped by the door 'Oh and can you see if you can decipher the note we found on the body please Shaz?'

'Sure Ma'am' replied Shaz as Alex walked out of the office and off to catch up with Gene, who was unsurprisingly sat in the Quattro waiting for her.

* * *

Being sat in the car with Gene concentrating on his driving gave Alex time to think about her feelings for Gene again. What was it about this man? This man she once thought of as a brute who didn't seem to care for other's feelings, what had changed? More than once now she had found herself thinking what it would be like to be more than just friends with him and her nights were filled of dreams of the two of them together.

Gene glanced over at Alex again, she was being unusually quiet for his Bolly, his Bolly….where had that come from? He wondered what was going on in that head of hers, whatever it was gave him time to take another look at her, starting with that perm she was beginning to grow out, down to her legs, today encased in one of her favourite pairs of skin tight jeans, he was sure she did it on purpose, he was sure she knew how much seeing her sway those hips in his direction turned him on.

* * *

Alex was still quiet when they pulled up outside the Hartley's house 'Earth to Bolly are you with us?' Gene called, 'or are you going to sit there all day?'

'What? Sorry, let's go' came Alex's reply as they both got out of the car are walked up the pathway. As they got to the front door, both their hands reached up to press the bell together, meaning Gene's hand came to rest on top of Alex's 'Oh god sorry' said Gene while quickly removing his hand and looking at anything but Alex. If he had he would have seen Alex blush and then a flash of disappointment across her face as he removed it.


	4. Chapter 4

**So the really quick updates still aren't happening, sorry! BUT I think this is the shortest gap between chapters so I must be getting there! Haha!**

Chapter four

'_**What? Sorry, let's go' came Alex's reply as they both got out of the car are walked up the pathway. As they got to the front door, both their hands reached up to press the bell together, meaning Gene's hand came to rest on top of Alex's 'Oh god sorry' said Gene while quickly removing his hand and looking at anything but Alex. If he had he would have seen Alex blush and then a flash of disappointment across her face as he removed it.**_

Alex removed her hand from the bell and turned to face away from Gene so he couldn't see her blushing. 'Pull yourself together' Alex whispered to herself while taking some deep breathes to compose herself.

The front door opened, 'Mr Hartley?' Asked Alex, he nodded in reply, 'My name is DI Alex Drake and this is DCI Gene Hunt' both flashed their badges 'may we come in please, we have some questions about your daughter, Jessica who you reported missing last week.' Mr Hartley stepped out the way for Gene and Alex to move into the hallway and into the small room at the front of the house, which was used as the living room. Straight away Alex spotted the number of photographs both on the mantelpiece above the fire and on all the walls in the room, all of what looked like the same girl, taken over the years of her life.

'You reported your daughter Jessica missing last week is that right Mr Hartley?' Asked Alex as her and Gene sat on the sofa, 'Yes' replied Mr Hartley, 'she went out to celebrate a friend's birthday and missed her curfew of midnight, but thought she must have spent the night at a friend's as she has done before, when she doesn't want to get a taxi home on her own you see, so it wasn't till the next morning when she still didn't show up that I started to worry. You know….what with this guy on the loose….I've seen the reports on the news…..oh god please don't tell me that is why you are here, my Jessica…she….she can't have been taken by this guy!'

'Mr Hartley, please, we need you to come down to the station, a body of a young girl matching your daughters description was found this morning we need you to come and identify the body' Alex spoke, trying to keep calm in what was a situation spiralling out of their control.

'No….you…can't…it can't be! My baby Jessica…no…I don't believe it….your lying….she can't be dead…I only reported her missing….she will come home soon, I've got her bedroom ready and the food in for her favourite dinner, sausage and mash…she….she just needs time out…..I can understand that….but you two' Mr Hartley stood up and started to advance on Gene and Alex 'Come here and try and tell me that my little girl….my beautiful little girl with her whole life ahead of her is dead…NO! I don't believe it…..'

'MR HARTLEY!' Gene stood up moved in front of Alex but Alex pulled him back and stood up in front of Mr Hartley 'Mr Hartley, I know how difficult this must be for you and I understand you don't want to do this but we need you to, there is a little girl in our station who needs to be with her dad, now why don't you come with me and my colleague here and we can just have a chat about the night Jessica went missing, we can go at your pace okay' Alex reached over and touched Mr Hartley's arm 'Okay, now if you just follow us we can go'

'Okay' replied Mr Hartley following Alex out of the living room and towards the Quattro where she calmly let Mr Hartley get in and looking round to check Gene was following her, which he was, got into the car.

Gene followed Alex and Mr Hartley out of the house and again thanked whoever had sent Bolly his way. He had never been good in these sort of situations, but now he had Alex here to deal with this, if it was up to him he would have lost his temper ages ago, he doesn't know how Alex does it but thankfully he didn't have to deal with this sort of situation anymore!

Once back at the station Alex led Mr Hartley down to the mortuary 'Now' Alex took a deep breathe 'You know this is not going to be easy Mr Hartley. We will go at your pace, just let me or DCI Hunt know if you want to leave'

'Okay' replied Mr Hartley as he followed Gene and Alex into the mortuary and stood next to Alex as Gene pulled the sheet covering the body down over the face and revealing the body of the girl, as he did so he saw out of the corner of his eye Mr Hartley grab hold of Alex's arm as his knees gave way. 'NO!' Mr Hartley screamed 'But…that's my little girl! Oh god, what am I going to do without her?' He reached forward to place his hands on Jessica 'It's her' was all they heard before he bent over his daughter's body and began to sob. Gene looked over at Alex and could see tears in her eyes. Alex could see Gene looking at her and tried to hide the tears, it was not the time or the place to be getting upset. 'Mr Hartley we will give you some time alone with your daughter. When you are ready we will be waiting outside and we will arrange for an officer to take you home, I'm very sorry' She looked at Gene before walking out, sensing he was following her.

'We need to find this killer Gene, I don't want to see another family torn apart through this person's actions!'

'I know Bolls, look its six o'clock, we can crack on with it tomorrow, see what the others got to this afternoon yes?'

'Okay' replied Alex and the rest of the walk up to CID was silent, aside from Alex asking Viv at reception to send someone down to wait with Mr Hartley and then to take him home.

On entering CID they could see Shaz still hard at work deciphering the clue found in Jessica's hair, and Ray and Chris actually working for once, adding the information got from this murder to the whiteboard where the details about the other murders sat. At the sound of their senior officers entering the room the other three looked round in time for Gene to say 'It's six o'clock, hometime, Luigi's awaits' before heading into his office to fetch his coat. Buy the time he came back out the outer office was empty aside from Alex who was sat at her desk 'Come on Bolls, bottle of Luigi's finest awaits us, start again in the morning'

'You're right' replied Alex as she followed Gene out of CID and down to Luigi's.

**A/N a bit of a filler chapter, but needed to move the story on a bit, hope it was okay and please read and review, and help on improving my writing is welcome =] x**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay guys I am SO sorry with how long I have left it between updates…again! What can I say...my motivation left me to finish this story and it has taken months to get back into the swing of things and try and get back into this! So again…I'm sorry and now on with the story, this is just a bit of a filler chapter (which they all seem to be…I promise this is going somewhere) but the next chapter will have more plot! Oh and please read and review =] x**

Chapter five:

'_**You're right' replied Alex as she followed Gene out of CID and down to Luigi's. **_

After sharing a couple of bottles of wine with Gene in Luigi's she then headed upstairs more sober than she had been for a long while and sunk into the sofa with a glass of whisky from the bottle she found in the back of the cupboard and finally allowed herself to think of Molly. Her baby, how was she coping without her mum? Alex closed her eyes and could still see the smiling face of her daughter on her birthday 'I will get back to you Molly. I promised I would never leave you' Alex sighed 'I know when the time comes it will be hard to leave Gene but I need to get home to you…to my baby' She pulled the blue blanket that was kept on the back of the sofa over her, she didn't want to sleep alone in bed tonight and fell into an uneasy sleep filled of dreams of Molly and Gene.

Gene on the other hand had stayed sitting in Luigi's long after Alex, then Ray and the others had left until Luigi told him to go. He wandered out to the Quattro looking up at Alex's flat window on the way he noticed her flat window was still on, yet it had been hours since she had gone up. He thought back to earlier, she had been a lot quieter and this wasn't the first time she had left Luigi's early when she wasn't pissed. He decided to go up and check she was okay, he told himself it was because he needed her on top form to solve this case but he knew he was just lying to himself. Really he just wanted to check she was okay, he knew what he felt for Alex was more than just work colleagues or even friends but he didn't know if she felt the same.

Gene walked back towards Luigi's and snuck up the staircase that led to the flats, hoping Luigi hadn't seen him. As he knocked on Alex's flat he was already regretting his decision. What if she was asleep, or in the shower, or just didn't want to see him. He turned to walk away as the door opened and Alex peeped round the side of the door.

'What do you want Gene?' Alex asked sleepily while opening the door wide to let him in.

'Sorry Bolls, didn't realise you were asleep…I er just wanted to check you were okay? ' Alex looked shocked to see genuine concern in Gene's face, for a moment she was speechless. Gene didn't do feelings and all that mushy stuff! He had told her that just the other week when she tried to bring up the topic of Sam and leaving Manchester. 'Only you left Luigi's pretty sharpish earlier, something wrong with the poncy Italian mush he feeds you?' And in an instant he was back to being Gene.

'I'm fine Gene, just tired' Alex tried to smile

'Okay' said Gene 'Don't mind if I stay here do ya?' He asked while taking his coat off and moving over to sit on the sofa.

'Course not Guv' replied Alex as she shut the door behind him, secretly happy he was here, well it would stop her thinking about Molly for a while. Alex went to refill her glass of whisky in the kitchen 'Want a drink?' she shouted through to Gene.

'Ta Bolls' He said while making himself comfy with his feet up on the table.

Alex came back into the living room, handed Gene a tumbler of whisky, sat down next to him on the sofa and took a swig of her own drink.

Half an hour later saw Alex and Gene sat watching an old Western video Alex had found in the drawer when the conversation had started to dry up. She still didn't know why Gene was really here, he wasn't that drunk but he seemed in no hurry to go. Not that she was complaining, it was nice to see this 'real Gene', where he was just content with watching a film rather than drinking copious amounts of alcohol. She felt herself relaxing beside him and the last thing she remembered was Gene saying that this is the good bit…

Gene was trying and failing to get into the movie, it was an old classic, one he had seen many times, but he couldn't relax properly, not with Alex sat so close to him. He tried many times to work out what to say to her but everything sounded stupid in his head. The truth was he was worried about her. She hadn't been the same since the Prices were blown up, in some ways she had been better, she had stopped arguing so much with him and most of the talk of going home, wherever home was, had stopped. But there was something else, she didn't always seem happy. He knew their relationship had changed, the incident earlier with the doorbell he swore he had seen a look of disappointment in her eyes, before she covered it up with embarrassment. But he didn't know how to go about it. This was Bolly, he couldn't muck this one up. He couldn't live with himself if he let her go or did something wrong.

Gene took his concentration back to the TV and realised the film was reaching the end fight scene 'Here Bols…this is the good bit' but before he could check she was watching he felt something land on his shoulder and stay there. He turned his head to see Alex fast asleep on his shoulder. He wasn't sure what to do, did he just leave her there or did he wake her up? His answer was made up for him when she slung one arm across his chest and moved closer to him. He was stuck, but he couldn't say he was not comfortable. Here he was with Alex asleep on him looking completely relaxed and content.

After about an hour Gene realised he could no longer feel his arm and the fact he couldn't reach his whisky had worn off a while ago. He also knew that he could not let Alex wake up in the morning and him still be like this. He slowly moved and lay Alex down onto the sofa, pulled the blanket back around her from where it had been thrown when he sat down and went to leave.

'Gene' Alex mumbled. He spun round straight away expecting her to have woken up but she was still fast asleep. He realised she must be dreaming of him which made him smile. He walked back over to her and bent down to kiss her forehead.

'Night Bols. Sweet dreams' Then Gene grabbed his coat and walked out of the flat and headed back to his car to drive home.

**A/N Again sorry for the delay, hope you enjoyed it and I hope I have got Gene right, some parts of this I felt like I may not have got him quite right! **


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I can only apologise for the length of time I left this...all I can say is a really bad case of writers block, my muse running away and just not having the motivation to even re read what I had written. I think I've fought through it now, and I really hope I won't leave it a year again this time! People shouting at me to get on and do this helps so much!

Chapter six:

'_**Night Bols. Sweet dreams' Then Gene grabbed his coat and walked out of the flat and headed back to his car to drive home.**_

Meanwhile Alex was still fast asleep where Gene had left her, but she wasn't going to stay sleeping peacefully for long. Her sleep was interrupted with dreams of Molly and the life she was trying to get back to. The dreams were firstly of Molly as a baby, her first steps, her first words with Alex the proud mum watching over her every step of the way.

Then they changed to Molly getting older and Alex working all the time, there was a glimpse of Molly in the netball team for her school looking out for her mum to see her winning the match for her team, of parents evenings watching out for her mum because she was late to meet her teachers, weekends where, when Molly was little she was shipped off to Evan's for the weekend, or her grandparents, and now that she is older being alone in the house all weekend making dinner for her and her mum, that never gets eaten because Alex is too late home from work to eat it.

Alex realised she had been turning into her mother, never being there for her daughter. Even on that fateful day she sent Molly off with Evan because she just had to go back to work! If she had just gone home with her daughter, to check she was okay…it was her birthday after all, then maybe none of this would have happened.

The dream changed again, this time it was to a hospital room. It was like Alex was watching from the side-lines, she wasn't actually there. Molly, Evan and Pete's parents, who had kept in touch where their son had failed, were all stood round a bed, Alex realised they were all crying.

'Oh Mum' sobbed Molly as Alex looked at the person in the bed and realised this was her, in the hospital room in 2008 right now. 'I wished and wished it would not come to this….but the doctors' Molly was uncontrollably crying now 'The doctors…' she took a few deep breathes before finishing her sentence 'The doctors have shown us the scans mum, there is no brain activity. You did so well to hold on till they got you to the hospital but you aren't really here are you? You have already gone on or whatever' She looked at Evan 'But Evan's here, he is going to look after me, just like he did with you when Grandma and Grandad died' Molly looked over at where her grandparents were stood, both with tears in their eyes 'And Gran and Grandad will be here too, they have been staying up here for the last couple of days ever since this happened.' She looked back over at Evan who nodded 'The doctors said we will get some time to say goodbye before….before they turn off the machines. I'm not really sure what to say mum. I'm going to miss you more than anything but I'm going to make you proud. I promise. I really really need you mum but I know you are needed by someone else now, I hope wherever you are you are happy, I will never ever forget you, you were the best mum I could ever have and I love you so so much' Molly managed to just finish before the tears began again, she turned to Evan who hugged her tightly as the tears fell down his face.

'Alex….oh Alex' Evan sobbed 'It's like history repeating itself. I promise to look after Molly just as I did with you, she will make you so proud, she is just like her mum. Goodbye Alex, I hope now you are at peace'

Evan grabbed Molly tighter as the doctors came back in. 'Sorry, it's time' the doctor looked to Evan 'Do you want to stay or…'

'We are staying' Molly said determinedly 'Mum wouldn't want to be alone' she looked to Evan and her grandparents who all nodded, wanting to do what would help Molly the most. Molly moved forward to hold onto her mum's hand. 'We all love you, please mum…' Molly took one last look at her mum's face before the tears came again and blurred her vision 'Please be happy, I know you are somewhere else and I just want you to be happy'

The last thing Alex saw before waking up was Molly holding her hand and whispering over and over 'Goodbye mum, I love you'

'NO' Alex shouted waking up and sitting up, trying to work out what had just happened. Was it just a dream or was it figments of her life back in 2008 drifting through again? If it was then….does that mean she was dead? 'No…..I need to get back to Molly' Alex whispered.

The TV switched sat in the corner of the room switched itself on, playing a clip from a news channel from 2008 with a newsreader she recognised.

'And today DI Alex Drake, who was shot after attending a hostage situation, has died of her injuries. She leaves behind a little girl Molly. DI Drake's colleagues had this to say about her'

Alex zoned out as people she used to work with started talking about her. It was real. She was actually dead in 2008. 'Oh Molly' she sobbed. 'I promised I would get back to you, oh Molly I am so sorry! My baby…'

Hours later saw Alex lay on the sofa with red rimmed eyes and the tear tracks down he face, the tears had dried up some time ago but she hadn't bothered to move, not even to wipe the tears away…what was the point? She was dead, she was never going to get back to Molly, never see her little girl grow up…

'No, no, no, no' Alex leant over and found the whisky bottle that her and Gene had been drinking about just a few hours earlier. Ignoring the glass she placed the bottle to her mouth and allowed the amber liquid to run down her throat and burn. As the whisky took effect and sleep claimed her once again the thoughts of Molly as a child ran through her mind again, mixed in with images of Gene….

A/N: As always please read and review! =] It really helps keep my motivation going to update!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Is this an update in just a couple of days? Haha this is thanks to all the lovely reviews and the shouting that people have done to me on tumblr to keep writing and get this chapter finished! Also massive thanks to Megan for giving this a quick look over as I was a little worried about parts of this! As always I do not own anything! =[**

Chapter seven:

'_**No, no, no, no' Alex leant over and found the whisky bottle that her and Gene had been drinking about just a few hours earlier. Ignoring the glass she placed the bottle to her mouth and allowed the amber liquid to run down her throat and burn. As the whisky took effect and sleep claimed her once again the thoughts of Molly as a child ran through her mind again, mixed in with images of Gene….**_

Alex woke the next morning with a throbbing headache, from the crying or the alcohol she wasn't sure. What she wanted most of all was to start drinking and hide away from the world with her grief. She knew she couldn't though, not while they were half way through this case, and she knew if she was late Gene would be round here.

Gene, how was she supposed to cope with Gene? She couldn't even think about her feelings for him right now, not with the pain of losing Molly so fresh. Somehow Alex dragged herself into work only a few minutes late and slid into her seat, trying to go unnoticed by Gene. Without even looking up to see if Gene noticed her she grabbed the pile of files that she had left the day before and pulled them in front of her before beckoning over Shaz. 'How far have we got on working out what the number mean found in Jessica's hair?'

'Not great Ma'am, it doesn't seem to follow any of the normal patterns that people use, it's not a Bible reference, and it doesn't seem to match up with any of the ways I can think of' replied Shaz 'Sorry' she added as an afterthought.

'Don't worry Shaz, I want you to keep going with it this morning, it could be vital to helping pin down this guy. Go and see Viv too, he might be able to help' Alex tried to smile but knew it hadn't reached her eyes. She saw Shaz give her a strange look but before she could act on it Alex pulled the top file off the pile and began to read through it.

Gene meanwhile was sat in his office pretending to do work but really thinking about last night. He thought his relationship with Alex was moving forward slowly, but when she came in and sat down without even looking at him he wondered if she regretted the night before. He had no more time to think about it though as the Super rang, wanting an update on the murder case and wondering why it was taking the team so long to catch this killer.

This was how the morning progressed, Gene being stuck in his office on the phone and Alex rarely lifting her eyes off her work, except to give Ray and Chris and the others more instructions. Ray and Chris were sent on another visit to the snouts to see if there was any more news on the streets, she knew that would most likely end in nothing but if they were stuck in the office all day they would drive her mad! Shaz was working away in the corner, searching through stacks of books to try and help decipher the clue the killer had left. Alex knew she needed to talk to Gene about where they went next with this case, but at the same time she couldn't face him. Not after falling asleep on him last night. And not while she dealt with the fact she would never see Molly again.

As Alex thought about her daughter she could feel the tears rising and was sure this time they wouldn't be easy to hide. Slipping out of the office quietly she ran to the toilets. 'Come on Alex, pull yourself together. Don't do this now.' After a few deep, composing breaths Alex headed back to the office and was thankful no one had seemed to notice her disappearance.

The afternoon continued much the same as the morning, with Viv and Shaz working hard on the clue, Ray and Chris actually working for once chasing up on loose ends from other cases that had been forgotten with the murders, Alex trying to start to piece together a criminal profile for the attacker and Gene seemingly doing not a lot, but barking orders left, right and centre when he felt like it.

Six o'clock rolled around and Gene finally left his office to say 'Lunchtime' because walking back into his office to collect his coat and walk over to Alex's desk. 'Luigi's?' he asked Alex

'Sorry what?' replied Alex. She had been so involved in trying to piece together a profile to fit the attacker that she hadn't noticed Gene come out of his office or the rest of the room emptying.

'I said' answered Gene, while moving to take the pen out of Alex's hand and shove the paperwork to one side 'Luigi's? You haven't stopped all day, you need a break'. If Alex hadn't been so wrapped up in thoughts of Molly still she would have been shocked by the thoughtfulness behind Gene's remark, instead she just picked up her coat, flung it over her shoulders and followed Gene out of the office and across the road to Luigi's.

Once sat at 'their' table, with a bottle of wine between them and some food ordered Alex decided to bring up the night before. 'I'm erm sorry for last night Gene, falling asleep on you like that'

'You should be Bolly, missed the end of a cracking film there, going to have to make you watch it again now!' Gene replied in his menacing but teasing tone. He didn't really want to get into this, Gene Hunt didn't do girly things like this, it was completely unchartered territory for him.

'Maybe you should' Alex replied quietly. Gene looked up and was about to comment when Luigi interrupted them with their food. 'Thank Luigi' said Alex, again the smile she gave him didn't quite reach her eyes before turning to watch Gene tuck into his pizza.

Half an hour later and Gene had had just enough of watching Alex push the now cold food round her plate looking a million miles away 'Are you actually going to eat that?' He barked at her

'Sorry, just not hungry tonight' she replied before downing the rest of her glass of wine and re filling it. She could feel the alcohol hitting her. It was a good feeling, it meant soon she wasn't going to feel anymore or be able to think about Molly. Gene looked over the top of his glass, while smoking another cigarette, he knew there was something different with Alex today, but did he really want to ask? Feelings and stuff wasn't his cup of tea, but at the same time he couldn't deny that he cared for Alex deeply and he hated to see her like this. He really couldn't fuck this one up. He looked up to see Alex finishing another glass of wine, how many had she had tonight? He could see the drunken haze taking over in her eyes and how she was struggling to focus not only on him, but on keeping her body up.

'Come on Bolls, let's get you up to bed' He moved round and pulled her up from her seat, Alex stumbled and nearly fell straight into Gene.

Somehow they made it up the stairs, Gene with one hand round Alex's waist to keep her upright and moving in the right direction. At the entrance to her flat he went to let her go when she suddenly held onto him tightly 'Please don't go, I've already lost Molly, I don't want to be alone, please…' Alex mumbled.

'I'm not going anywhere Bolly' Gene replied, moving the two of them into her flat and somehow getting her into bed.

'Please stay' Alex was mumbling again.

'Course Bolly, I'll be on the sofa'

'My Molly, Gene my Molly….I'm never going to see her again…why?' Alex was sobbing, seemingly half asleep.

'Bolls, it will be okay' Gene didn't know what to do. He knew something must have happened with Molly before Alex arrived at Fenchurch but she didn't seem to talk about it too much so Gene didn't ask any questions. He knew how hard it was to talk about Sam; he didn't want to bring anything up with Alex. He looked up again to see Alex flat out asleep, the drink taking hold.

**A/N I really hoped this worked, I needed to move the chapter across the whole day which is why it may seem a little jumpy! As always please review and shout at me more to get the next update up before the end of the week! **


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